July 4th 2024 - Weekend in Minnesota Part 2

We had a great time celebrating M&D's wedding in Minnesota over July 4th weekend. The actual wedding was on July 6th. We drove about 40 minutes from our hotel to D's grandmother's house for the backyard wedding. Mimi's backyard was a beautiful place for a wedding. 

Everything looked so lovely.

My husband and I can clean up pretty well once in a while.

After the ceremony, M&D went for a champagne boat ride on the lake. 

M&D's wedding was absolutely stunning. They make a handsome couple.

We were there for seven hours. There were plenty of places to sit and visit.

The wedding tent looked beautiful all lit up after sunset.

D's brother took the boat out into the middle of the lake to set off fireworks. The fireworks were huge and went on for about 20 minutes. My husband and I were watching the boat to see her brother light a fuse then rush over to the other end of the tiny boat before the fireworks went off. I can't imagine how scary it was to be on that boat.

It was a great wedding. We enjoyed meeting M&D's friends and family. 

The Bubbles and Brunch get together was the morning after the wedding on the rooftop of 6Smith Restauant in Wayzata by Lake Minnetonka. The weather certainly cooperated all weekend. 

The food was so good. I need to figure out how to make the goat cheese, fig, and herbs crostini that was served as an appetizer.

Paul with the groom's mom. She is such a sweetheart. Before she retired, she was a family court judge. When Boogs was in elementary school, she was kind enough to let Boogs interview her for an assignment. It was great to spend time with her again.

M was all smiles at the brunch. I am sure it was a relief to have the weekend go so well.

Our flight home was not until the next day. We searched for something to do for the afternoon and decided to go to Valleyfair Amusement Park in Shakopee, about 20 minutes from our hotel. When we got to the amusement park, my husband realized he had forgotten his wallet at the hotel. Luckily, he had Apple Pay on his watch so we were able to buy tickets. We got to the park at 4:30 and the park closed at 9:00. 

The park had a Peanuts theme with Snoopy characters everywhere.

The park was amazingly empty. It had been closed for several days because of flooding in the area. I guess people were staying away because they weren't sure it was open. We did not have to wait more than 5 minutes in line for any of the rides. We rode our first rollercoaster, got off the ride, and then walked right back on to ride again without any lines. We had a great time riding all of the rides.

The 250 foot drop on Power Tower takes your breath away.

The Xtreme Swing was pretty scary.  You rise 125 feet in the air and swing up to 60 miles per hour. We only rode it once.

Steele Venom was a scary ride. As soon as the ride begins, you take off so quickly it throws you back in you seat. Each end of the coaster, winds up like a corkscrew. At the highest height, there is a hang time looking down the 185 foot drop. We rode it multiple times so we could sit in the front, back, and middle section to see which seat was best. It was a ton of fun. 

The Scrambler is the ride we used to always go to first with Boogs. Too bad he missed out today.

My husband's favorite thing to do at amusement parks is to ride the bumper cars. He is ruthless behind the wheel.

No lines! 

We stayed until closing and were on the last ride on the Wild Thing rollercoaster before they closed for the night. This was our favorite ride. It reached speeds of 74 miles per hour. There was one drop that made you lift out of you seat. I think we rode it  8 or 9 times. 

Our flight home was super early. We had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to go to the airport. My husband was offered an upgraded seat on both of the flights home. He was kind enough to let me have the seat on both flights. I made sure to call him a peasant as he walked by. :-) 

We had a great weekend. I am glad we went. I really enjoyed this mini vacation.